Football: Mike MacIntyre hopes to bring majority of staff to CU Buffs

New coach meets with current CU staff and plans individual player meetings

By Kyle Ringo Buffzone.com

Posted:
12/14/2012 09:48:24 PM MST

New Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre says there is no doubt he will hire San Jose State offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, defensive coordinator Kent Baer and defensive line coach Jim Jeffcoat to fill those jobs in the CU program if things go his way.

However, Baer is serving as San Jose State's interim head coach for its bowl game Dec. 27 and is a candidate to replace MacIntyre permanently. If Baer is hired by San Jose State, it could substantially change the makeup of MacIntyre's first staff at CU.

MacIntyre said he doesn't expect to announce his staff in pieces other than the indications he already has given. He said he will announce the entire staff at once and it might not come until late December depending on what San Jose State does. If his old school hires a coach before its bowl game, it will help speed up the process for CU.

"There is a lot of moving parts, but it will be done before long for sure," MacIntyre said. "... I don't think anything is definitely etched in stone until they know who is going to be the head coach at San Jose State."

MacIntyre knows he's playing catch up with every other team in the Pac-12 Conference right now in recruiting, but he also feels like he's ahead of the game in terms of making the transition from his old job to his new one.

The last time MacIntyre took over a program three years ago, he was hired eight days later than he was this time around and he was moving from Duke University in North Carolina to the other side of the country on the West Coast. Back then, MacIntyre was a defensive coordinator at Duke and was able to bring a graduate assistant coach with him. This time he hopes to bring a large percentage of his staff with him.

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"All of this is dead period time anyway," MacIntyre said. "So I'm calling all the recruits and doing all sorts of stuff and working at that hard."

MacIntyre interviewed most of the current Colorado assistant coaches Friday and will wrap up staff interviews today. He also met with approximately 10 players and hopes to meet with 25-30 Sunday through Wednesday before they all leave for the semester break.

MacIntyre said he has spoken with every recruit who has orally committed to CU in the 2013 cycle and those conversations have been positive. He said recruits have questions for him about his staff that he can't answer now, but he's doing his best to paint a picture of the CU program as he envisions it.

"Of course when there is a little bit of uncertainty, it probably sends doubts to different recruits' minds, but all of the commitments sounded very solid," MacIntyre said. "They also know that the dead period starts and we can't really get out. So that kind of makes it easier on this situation at this time.

"When it cranks back up, out whole staff will be out in homes and in schools and recruiting hard."

MacIntyre said he has not received any new commitments yet. He said he working with a fluid number in terms of the total number of recruits he hopes to sign in February.

MacIntyre held a team meeting with the players Friday. He said his goals in meeting with each current CU player individually is to get to know each of them and find out if there are any questions or issues they need to talk with him about that wouldn't normally be addressed in a team setting.

Athletic director Mike Bohn said he is not granting releases at this time to members of the team who want to transfer because of the coaching change. Bohn said coaching changes are emotional times and he wants players and their families to have plenty of time to think through the decision.

Bohn did not rule out the possibility of releasing players if they continue to want a change of scenery. He does not have a time line for when he will grant transfers to those who want them, but he does want MacIntyre to have an opportunity to meet with every player individually first and get the coach's input on those cases.

"I would think that any young man when a situation like this transpires at any school across the country -- and there are quite a few this is happening at -- sometimes they think about transferring," MacIntyre said. "All I'm talking to them about is making sure they go through spring practice and really get to know what we do and see how they fit in it. Then at the end of spring practice, if they don't feel like it's working out for them, at that time they could decide to transfer.

"But I think if they go through spring, go through winter workouts and get to know us and see what we're doing, I think majority of them, if any of them are thinking about transferring, would change their mind."

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